Ok! This is weird for real … I am actually coming back every day to see what happened with “ikbis” campaign and what strangely cute character is there … what will happen when we reach the end of the campaign? please keep ikbis-ing with us to find out what is behind these interesting creature .. ermmm sorry .. characters

You must know by now how much I am against censorship, especially when it is against brilliant content like Mahmood’s Den!

In Bahrain; they are shutting down the sound of reason by blocking this smart and informative blog which makes me wonder when we will start moving forward and give up on dragging our people backward; all the way to ages that are darker than ignorance!

Please help us unblock Mahmood’s Den by signing the petition; get your voice heard and help us bring Mahmood’s Den back to all its fans in Bahrain!

Spread the word and link to the petition!

I think that most readers of my blog are already familiar with iToot and have visited the aggregator every once in a while. For those who do not know it yet, it is a private venture in the form of an aggregator; it includes regional blogs and very interesting reads; at least this is my opinion.

From my understanding of private venture; I fathom that the selection process is rather subjective as it should be, just like when I am adding my own personal blogroll on my blog; no one can tell me who should be there because the only criteria of choice is my own preference. With iToot; it is different because the guys do their best to be perceived as unbiased and I think that they succeeded at that most of the time, so who are we to tell them what they should or shouldn’t be doing??

Some bloggers have stated their frustration about not being picked or added on iToot; each in his/her own way. One way was the introduction of the iBaloo6 concept which I find to be very cool; it is true that it is inspired by iToot and not being included there but still I really like the idea and wish the initiators all the best in their effort. This is what I consider a civilized method of protesting against something, they did not attack anyone; they simply are looking for a substitute.

This whole thing with the frustration with iToot brings a question to my mind; why is it so important for these bloggers to be featured on iToot if they don’t think so highly of it in the first place? Or let me say; why do they want to be included any way? Is it the need to feel that they belong somewhere? Is it the privilege of being in and within? Or is it just the attitude “others are not better than me” or “I am much better than most”?

Whatever the reason is, the selection process is subjective and no one has the right to object to that or attempt to change it; and certainly no one has the right to accuse the moderators of iToot of placing “Wasta” on the top of the choice criteria; this argument is not valid and I will give you a couple of examples.

The first example is my own blog; when iToot was first launched, I was so excited to join especially that I know most of iToot team personally and I would like to think that I had some “Wasta” at the time, that is if “Wasta” actually played a part of it. Despite that; I was not added to iToot in the first group and that was really frustrating to me because I wanted in so badly; I thought it was a professional venture that would add value to my blog and indeed it did when I was finally added in the second group. If “Wasta” is the main criterion in the selection process; I should have been there from the beginning and I would like to think that my blog is worthy of getting selected, but I did not bash iToot for not including me and was very privileged and flattered when they finally did, thank you iToot!

The second example is my dear and best friend Jad, and I am sure he will not mind that I included him as an example. He works with iToot, however; he was only added to the group last week, so how does this agree with the “Wasta” theory?? It simply doesn’t.

iToot does not need me to defend its efforts and I do this voluntarily because I respect its founders and moderators, and I respect the initiative as a whole; it is something we all should be proud of and support even if we were not there in the first place, and this is exactly what I said to Ahmad when I was not selected in the first bunch of tooters.

Bashing them and blaming them for their choices of who appears or who gets in is simply like telling someone who he/she should receive in their own homes; you simply cannot do that and you don’t have the right to say that. However; you do have the right to give your opinion and share your feedback with the moderators and I never heard of them turning their backs to such attempts; quite the contrary; they welcome this and do reply and take it seriously.

Finally; this is not a virtual war and it shouldn’t be; I for one, am proud to be on iToot and thank the guys for picking me. I am also supportive of the iBaloo6 team, the squirrels, and wish them all the best in their effort; I am sure they will include me because I do have “Wasta” with them and they have already stated that this is their main criterion to be chosen, so I am expecting to be there Moey, Amino and Abed

Don’t you think this makes a lot of sense? I mean tootsense??

Great caricature by toot’s and syntax’s one and only; Wael Attili or best known as Sha3teely!!

Thank you Wael for allowing me to use this on my blog!

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